Bounce Back Fast: 8 Easy Ways to Deal with Slow Healing

You were cooking dinner for your family when you accidentally burned yourself. Or you were on your way to work when you tripped while on your four-inch heels and experienced a bad sprain. Or you and your friends decided to play a friendly badminton game and you pulled a shoulder muscle.

What Will You Do in Any of These Situations?

Going to the doctor or checking out homemade treatments will most likely be on top of your agenda. You want to make sure you will be okay, right? At the same time, it allows you to address any complications brought on by the injury or accident. Sadly, life goes on and you need to continue with your daily routine –even while injured.

Don’t worry. Here are some helpful tricks you cantry to speed up the healing process and still go on with your normal life.

1. Get An Adequate Amount Of Sleep

There was a reason why your mom always told you to go to sleep early. You need to get enough hours of sleep to make sure that you have plenty of energy for the following day.

You may not have understood it decades ago, but now that you are older, you can appreciate why your mom was such an advocate for sleep.

To speed up recovery, experts recommend that you get eight to nine hours of sleep every night. This is because during the first two hours, the production of growth hormones spike, which is essential for your body’s healing abilities. When there are enough growth hormones, the faster you will heal and the faster you’ll get back to your daily activities.

2. Eat Healthy

Aside from getting enough sleep, what you eat also plays a major role in the healing process. However, it’s not just any type of food. Did you know that there are foods that could speed up your healing? When it comes to healing, adding protein, vitamin C and zinc are your best bets.

Protein is the building block of healthy tissues, which means it could help repair damaged tissues to speed up healing. Vitamin C is a natural antioxidant and helps generate an ample supply of collagen to boost the healing process. Zinc is anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and replicates skin cell faster to allow skin cells to repair immediately.

3. Consider Honey

Thousands of years ago, people used honey to heal any illnesses. They even used it to treat minor wounds, cuts and burns. Fast forward to today, people still use honey as a natural remedy against wounds, scratches and burns, among others.

According to researchers from New Zealand, honey acts as an antibacterial agent, which helps clean out the wound and prevent further infection.

This also reduces swelling and minimizess carring. Simply put some honey on a sterile gauze and apply it onto the wound. Make sure the gauze stays in place, and change the dressing every 24 hours. Soon you will notice an improvement in the healing process.

However, it’s not just any honey you happen to find in the supermarket. Make sure you will only go for raw or Manuka honey to make sure that you will enjoy the full benefits. The grade A honey you find in grocery stores usually has high fructose corn syrup in it, which could increase infection, especially when used to treat wounds topically.

4. Get A Massage

Admit it. Every time you feel tired or stressed, one of the things you want to do is to schedule a massage. It helps you relax and at the same time, releases and relieves you from tension in your body. Did you know that getting a massage is one of the effective ways to help you bounce back after an injury?

For every strained tendon, pulled muscle or lower back pains, hopping on the masseuse’s table will surely reduce swelling, alleviate soreness and relieve any overworked muscles. In fact, according to Australian researchers, massaging a strained muscle within three hours from the time it happened could lead to less soreness and swelling. This makes healing faster, as well.

The next time you feel muscle pain in any portion of your body to the point where it almost restricts you from functioning properly, make sure to schedule that massage. It is a good opportunity for you to relax and unwind. At the same time, you deserve it after what you’ve been through. Hence, it’s a win-win situation.

5. Do Yoga

Yoga is a Hindu philosophy that teaches you to control your mind and body in order to achieve inner peace and liberation. It is also a system of exercises focused on your physical and mental health.

For many, yoga is sitting or lying down in a certain position, breathing in and out for minutes and doing weird poses. For those who live with it, yoga is more than just various poses. Yoga came from the Sanskrit word, “yuj,” which means to integrate or unite. It is about harmonizing your body with your breathe and mind through breathing techniques and meditation. More importantly, it helps improve blood circulation in your body. In return, yoga helps you lower stress, eases any lower back pain and promotes faster recovery.

There are different types of yoga. However, it all boils down to this: it helps you bounce back faster. Many recreational facilities offer yoga classes. Check out the facilities near you and try this for a change. If you’re not into people and chanting, there are also introductory DVDs about yoga, which you could do at home. YouTube also offers a wide range of yoga videos at your disposal.

Who knows, you might love yoga even after the pain is gone. Eventually, you will consider this practice as a holistic way of living.

6. Be In Sync With Your Man

Check out any women’s magazines and you will notice something in common among all of them. Aside from clothes and shopping tips, most magazines or even websites dedicated to women have a sex column in it.

Why? It’s because being intimate with your man, even without penetration involved, has a lot of health benefits. This includes boosting your body’s ability to recover.

According to experts, a rough patch in relationships could slow down your recovery from an injury or illness. This is because messy relationships means more of the stress hormone, cortisol. The more cortisol you have in your body, the slower your healing rate will be. On the other hand, a strong and stable relationship helps you heal faster.

Therefore, do your best to fix any issues with your man. There is no such thing as a perfect relationship, but if you and your man continuously love, honor and respect each other, you surely won’t worry about cortisol bugging you.

Aside from this, try your best to handle disagreements and conflicts in a calm manner. Hostility and being nasty instead of talking about the issue like a mature person won’t lead you anywhere. After all, studies show that your body produces more cortisol when you constantly demand and say negative comments and your partner withdraws. Breathe, relax and talk like real human beings.

7. Try Hypnosis

By definition, hypnosis is the induction of your self’s trance state using various therapeutic techniques.

During the ancient times right up until today, mental health professionals have used hypnosis as a form of treatment for people with psychological and psycho-physiological disorders. You can use this technique independently or together with other treatments, depending on your needs.

According to a Harvard Medical School study, patients with fractured bones who received hypnotherapy healed quickly. Another Harvard study showed that women who were hypnotized before and after breast reduction surgery healed faster and experienced less pain.

Keep in mind that hypnosis use time-tested techniques to help you deal with pain easier and in a more comfortable state. At the same time, it is a state of heightened awareness, so it will be easier for you to absorb change and healing.

8. Consider Natural Relaxation

Yes, there is such a thing called natural relaxation. It’s not just getting a massage or scheduling a foot spa. By natural relaxation, this means getting engrossed in a certain activity wherein your mind just forgets all the concerns and worries. For instance, painting, reading a good book, going for a run and even coloring. This is your body’s relaxation response and yes, it is good for you.

At this point, your blood pressure, heart rate and metabolism decrease while nitric oxide, a substance that helps dilate the blood vessels, increases. This helps you recover from any form of stress or disorder and make you feel better after.

Every person has its own form of natural relaxation. Whether it’s knitting, gardening, meditating or watching your favorite TV series, the important thing is you spend a few minutes of your time each day doing relaxation activities. This helps break the train of thought and fill your body with feel-good hormones. This speeds up healing, as well.

How fast or slow the healing process is depends on the person. Still, it won’t hurt if you try these simple,yet effective tips. Who knows, one or more of them could help speed up your recovery. If, however, you’ve tried all these tips and you are still experiencing pain, make an appointment to get checked out by your doctor. They can determine the cause and provide effective treatment options for you.